[f. WATERY a. + -NESS.]
† 1. concr. Watery constituent or element; aqueous matter contained in or diffused through a liquid or solid. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxxiv. (1495), 725. Whyte wyne is more moyst than blacke bycause of clerenesse and watrynesse that hath maystry therin. Ibid., XIX. lxv. 901. Mylke is the better and more holsom yf the moost deale of watrynesse is consumpte and wastyd.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 30. Take þe Iuse of þe herbes … medled wiþ … hony … and boile tham so long vnto þat þe watrynes of þe Iuyse be somewhat þikned.
1558. Warde, trans. Alexis’ Secrets (1580), I. VI. 99. The moysture or watrinesse of the saied quicke siluer distilleth out in a vapoure.
1678. R. R[ussell], trans. Geber, II. I. IV. v. 94. It is expedient to remove from things to be sublimed the Wateriness only with a very small Fire.
† b. Watery secretion. Obs.
c. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 39. And superflue watrenes swette out fro þe place þat was wonte for to file many lynnen cloþes putte atwix.
1543. Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg., II. i. 48 b. Let ye heade be epithemed in the place wher the aquositie or watrines is.
1605. Timme, Quersit., I. xvii. 94. It … dryeth up the tears and wateriness of the eyes.
2. The state of being watery; watery quality or nature.
1624. Gataker, Transubst., 186. Mere juglers and impostors, that … seeke to … maske with great wordes the naked watrinesse of their Baptisme.
1904. Elizabeth in Rügen, iv. 95. [Bathers] meeting you on this common ground of wateriness.
3. Superfluity of water as a constituent, connoting poorness, thinness, insipidity. a. of the blood.
1544. Phaër, Regim. Lyfe (1553), H vij. If suche fluxe … happen of the watrines of bloud, giue her to drink … hony of roses [etc.].
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 18. Mere wateriness of blood … does not cause an increased flow of bile.
b. of an article of food.
1859. R. F. Burton, Centr. Afr., in Jrnl. Geog. Soc., XXIX. 243. They attempt to remedy the wateriness of the fish by exposing it spitted to a slow fire.
1870. Miss Broughton, Red as Rose, I. 37. But what hero … can stand … the burning of his soup, or the wateriness of his potatoes.
c. fig. of literary style, composition, etc.
1830. Blackw. Mag., XXVIII. 587. The general haziness and wateriness of all his disquisitions.
1872. Ruskin, Fors Clav., xiv. 20. But as to the simplicity—or, shall we say wateriness,—of the style, I can answer you more confidently.
4. The state of being saturated with water.
1820. L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 21 (1822), I. 164. The sudden missing of one’s dry senses,—the deaf plunge and bubbling, and wrapping up in heavy wateriness. Ibid. (1832), Poems, Hero & Leander, I. 120. Then rising, with a sudden-ceasing sound Of wateriness, he stood on the firm ground. Ibid. (1841), Seer (1864), 25. [The fly in a tea cup] then stops, and sinks down, saturated and overborne with wateriness.
5. Lachrymal moistness.
1859. Sala, Gaslight & Daylight, ii. 17. A wateriness in the eye, and a huskiness in the throat.
